Humor is best served with a smile & a laugh or two
by Yuki Minamoto
Summary: A Crack fanfic: Stella and Shot-gun Guy. Please review! Stella feels awful after Noctis rejected her. Who's there to help her smile? Why, Noctis's friend Laris of course! StellaXLaris


**---Humor is best served with a smile and a laugh or two---  
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**Warning: This contains the first crack fanfic: Shot-gun Guy *Laris* and Stella Nox Fleuret.  
(Anti-Noctis and Stella pairing for you fans NXS out there, well kinda.)  
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**She didn't smile for days. It was odd for a Princess to be gloomy and sad for this long. She was usually cheerful, and had a bright smile on her beautiful face, but now that bright smiling face was gone. Stella sighed and looked at the stain glassed window from above. She was in a church. It was the only place where she can get away from pestering questions from her parents and away from the whispers that she heard behind her back.

She had a reason to be sad, but she wouldn't tell anyone about it. They would just laugh about it and tell her to move on. She looked away from the window, the first light was appearing and it hurt her eyes just staring at the window. She exhaled sharply, the rejection was still in ringing her mind: _Why don't you just stay away from me! Stop holding in this hopeless love for me, Stella. I never liked you, and I never will. Just leave me alone!_

She felt her lip tremble and she covered her mouth with her incoming cries. Why? Why hasn't Noctis accepted her? Maybe it was because they were so different. They only thing they had in common was their Royal Family Line and their fate: Death. Tears dropped from her eyes and made small, wet dots on her dress.

Stella felt rejected by the one she loved the most, and his rejection felt like her heart was thrown far away where no one can reach it. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out loud. Angrily, she wiped away her tears. Crying wasn't going to help, not now, not ever.

She was glad to be alone in Church, it was simple, nice, and quiet in a way that you never thought possible. As soon as she was done composing herself, she was going back to the Castle. Her parents must be worried sick about her. Even if they were King and Queen of Tenebrae, they cared about their daughter very much and would lead the search parties themselves to find their missing daughter who ran away.

She took out a handkerchief and blew her noise, rather loudly. She couldn't help herself but smile at the humor in it. "It sounds like clown honking his nose.....heh heh heh...Ha ha ha. Mmmpphh!" She covered her laughs quickly. It seemed wrong to be laughing in Church while her parents were searching for her.

"Yeah, smiling and laughing make a gloomy day all better." said a cheerful voice behind her. Stella jumped and shot up from her seat. At the entrance, a man with blond, semi-spiky hair smiled cheerfully at her. She blinked, it was one of Noctis's friends, Laris.

It was odd that she noticed this, but it was strange that he wasn't carrying his shot-gun with him. He just looked like a normal person entering a Church. The Princess found her voice,"What are you doing here, Laris?" Laris walked to the end row and took his seat, the door shutting slowly behind him.

"Marcus sent me here to," he emphasised the last words by mimicking his friend's voice,"_help clear my mind._ So, now I'm here." The man grinned at her and Stella looked away and sat down in her seat. She was disappointed that she wasn't the only one in here, she wanted sometime to think alone.

For no particular reason, Laris started praying out loud. "God...yeah, it's me. Umm, I know I never talk to you and stuff, but can you do me this one favor?" He looked up at the ceiling and clasped his hands together. Stella couldn't help but overhear. She looked back at him with a frown.

"Can you cheer up my friends? I mean, the War's messing them up badly and....I know I can't do it alone." Laris smiled innocently at the ceiling,"I'll be good this year. I promise. No more shooting at Chocobos for fun, no more matchmaking Noctis with some random girl at the park. And....," He sighed and muttered,"No more joking around. Well...maybe not that much, but I promise, I'm totally stopping the snakes under the bed routine."

Laris nodded at the ceiling and sat down with a satisfied smile. "Thanks." He noticed Stella staring at him. "What? You haven't seen a man praying before?" Stella shook her head and turned back around in her seat. "Not out loud before." she quietly said. "Oh, really?" She jumped again and pursed her lips. Laris was suddenly sitting beside her with his curious yellow eyes.

"At least I'm praying, Stella. I mean, what are you doing here, besides hiding out?" Stella's blue eyes flashed at him,"What? I'm not hiding out. What made you think that?" She sat back down for the hundredth time and at the corner of her eye, Laris reclined in his seat, his hands behind his head.

"Ever since Noct. dumped you, you seem....depressed. Am I right?" Stella felt a shiver down her spine. Noctis's name had a strange impact on her back then, now, it just felt hallow and empty. Apparently, Laris was more in tune with people's emotions than he let on. "W-What makes you say that?" She managed to say, ignoring her knots in her stomach.

The blond man shrugged,"You just seem out of it, Stel. Are you sure that you're alright? I know Noctis. He didn't mean it like that. He's just...stressed out. He didn't mean to yell at you." Stella turned to him and saw a small smile on his face. "Are you sure your alright, Stel?" He asked. She noticed a hurt tone in his voice. Stella nodded silently and went back looking at the stained glass.

He never showed this much attention to her before. When she was hanging out with Noctis, he would be in the background or somewhere else. This was the first time they talked one-on-one. She felt uncomfortable in his presence. It just didn't seem right for her to be hanging out with him. He was just Noctis's friend and that was it. Nothing else: no family, no royal line. It was like he just existed when he joined Noctis's group.

It was strange that Stella wasn't talking. Usually when she hung out with Noctis, she was the one who did the talking, while the Prince looked at her and listened silently. Without his strange aura surrounding her, she felt like nothing. She just felt empty.

"So.....you wanna get out of this place? It's too quiet for me." Stella looked at him and he quickly responded,"Not unless you want to stay here, Stel. Then it's fine with me." Her blue eyes looked at his yellow ones. They reminded her of him, her dark Prince.

She stood up stiffly and said with a small smile,"It's fine. Let's so somewhere else. Do you have any preferences, Laris?" Laris quickly got up and put his hands in his pockets, grinning at her.

"Why don't we go to the park? We can hang out there. And...we can talk." His yellow eyes looked away from her face and for a split second, she thought he blushed. Her heart suddenly felt lighter than before. Maybe it was something she ate.

"Sure, let's go." Grabbing her purse from the bench she followed Laris out of the Church.

_----The Park----  
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The sun felt hot against her skin and the sun shined brightly over their heads. The splashing of ducks in the pond made her lighter than before. She looked at her half-licked ice cream and bit into it. Mmm....it tasted so cool. She loved Vanilla Ice Cream. It was simple and elegant all at the same time.

She glanced at Laris who was biting at the sugar-cone from the bottom. She raised her eyebrows. That was an odd way of eating an ice cream. It seemed strange and barbarice to be eating from the bottom, and shouldn't you be eating from the top so no ice cream and drip on you?

Laris tiled his head and munched at the sugar-cone filled with Chocolate Ice Cream. He licked the edge of his lips and was going for another bite when he saw Stella stare at him with her blue eyes. "Why are you eating from the bottom? Shouldn't you be eating at the top?" She noticed the look in Laris's eyes: mischief.

"Eating at the top is boring. Eating at the bottom is fun. It's like a race to see it the ice cream can drip all over you _if_ you let it." He bit into the bottom again and winced,"Ow..." Slowly he chewed with a pained expression on his face. Stella quickly asked with concern,"Are you okay, Laris? What's wrong?" After he recovered, he smiled at her.

"It's just the ice cream, I bit too much of it. That's the thing about biting from the bottom, making sure you eat enough of it so it won't drip all over you, but you better make sure you don't eat too much. You'll get a brain-freeze if you do." Stella blinked at his explanation.

"Okay..." She slowly said, trying to process the information in her head. He motioned her to do the same. "Why don't you try it? It's fun Stel. I mean you need a laugh or two." Stella looked at her melting Vanilla Ice Cream and hestiated for a second before biting into at the bottom.

It was strange, but Stella started to like eating this way. As Laris said...it was fun! After she ate the tip of the sugar cone, white ice cream started seeping out. Quickly, before any of the ice cream started to drip out, Stella took two huge bites stuffing her mouth. She looked at Laris who started laughing.

She glared at him and because her mouth was full of ice cream, she couldn't say anything. Laris stopped laughing and took one look at the Princess: a glaring woman with blue eyes and her stuffed cheeks full of Vanille Ice Cream that made her look like a kid in a candy store, getting a bit too greedy with the sweets.

The corners of Laris's mouth twitched and Stella started to realise he was going to start laughing at her again. Eating the ice cream in her mouth as quickly as she could, she began calculating the distance between them and made her strike.

"OOOF!" The blond man hit the ground hard, feeling the weight of the Princess on top of him almost instantly. He blinked away the small tears of pain in his eyes and looked up. A glare of a future Queen of Tenebrea and her ice cream soaked lips made a tight frown. "Ouch...that hurt Stella. You didn't have to tackle me to make your point, but I can see why your the Princess of Tenebrea. Sharp as a tack and yet still so deadly, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." He gave her a grin and held out his hand.

"A little help?" She didn't comply and she turn her back away from him, taking her purse and slinging it over her shoulder. He brushed himself off and stood up, calling out to the insulted princess,"Hey! Stel. I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to laugh at you, but I couldn't resist. Honest. Pphhmmm...Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh, crap! Sorry! That one slipped. Can you forgive a man for once?" On-lookers started staring at him and he sighed when Stella didn't turn back in a response to his calls.

"Princesses....do they take everything so seriously?" he muttered under his breath and discared his and Stella's melted ice cream in the trash bin."I'd better tell the Princess I'm sorry." he said, thinking about the situation for a moment and followed Stella out of the park.

---_The Entrance---_

Stella groaned, why did she agree to go to the park with him? Was it because she was lonely? She shook her head, no that wasn't it. She was still recovering from her rejection with Noctis and it still hurt her. Then cold realisation hit her, she totally forgot about Noctis until now! Why? Shouldn't she be sad about Noctis rejecting her? Stella froze and asked herself,'_Why do you want to think about that insensitive jerk?'_

I don't know...it just seemed like I should be sad about it. _'Then why did you forget him?'_ Because I was with--. She stopped her thoughts for a second. Feeling someone behind her, she turned around and saw a sheepish Laris standing a few feet away from her with a sad look on his face.

"Stel, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh." The blond man looked away. A light red tint was on his cheeks and he smiled. "You just looked so funny with ice cream in your mouth. I-I know you needed some cheering up after Noct. did that to you, so I asked you to come with me. I thought you needed some humor, a smile, or a laugh or two."

He looked at Stella with an apolgic smile,"But I made things worse, didn't I? Instead of giving you all of those, I just....laughed at you. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. And...I'm just going on and on with this aren't I? Sorry. I'll-I'll just leave." He walked away from her with his hands in his pockets.

Stella felt a coldness in her moving,"Laris! Stop!" The blond man stopped and turned around. Stella looked at the hurt in his yellow eyes. "Maybe I needed those things: a bit of humor, a smile, and maybe a laugh or two. I just so caught up in my little break up, I forgot about...you. I'm sorry I tackled you. I'm just not use to people laughing at me. But," Smiling, she looked away hiding her small tears.

"I guess I forgot the humor in that too. I just don't know when to stop my selfishness, huh? Well, that's a Princess for you." In spite of herself, she chuckled at the irony of it. Now she was the one apologizing. Strange how that works in the real world.

She felt someone dabbing her eyes gently with a napkin. Her blue eyes looked up from the ground and saw a pair of yellow eyes greeting her with a warm smile. "Great, now I made you cry. What hell's wrong with me these days?" Stella giggled and took the napkin from him, wiping away her eyes.

"You were just trying to make me happy, that's all. There's nothing wrong with you, Laris." She put the napkin in her purse, Laris sighed. "So, what do you want to do now, Princess?" Playfully, she shrugged. "I don't know....walking in the park seems so....boring."

Catching his eye she smiled. "I prefer going back to the Church, if you don't mind quiet places Laris." Laris grinned back,"Nah, I don't mind. I still need to _clear my mind_." Stella laughed at his impression of Marcus. "But....I doubt it would be a quiet place in there anymore." he added which made Stella gasp and hit him on the forearm.

"Hey, Stel. Careful. I need this arm to shoot." He said, faking a hurt tone. Stella looked away,"Not if you're with me. You might not be having that shooting arm of yours for a while because that arm will be mine!" Suddenly, Stella wrapped both of her arms around his. A flash of yellow and blue eyes looked at one another.

"I don't think we should be doing that in a Church, Stel. We can go someplace else, whatever you _prefer_." Stella smirked,"Fine. Let's go shopping!" Dragging the groaning man, she rushed out towards the city of Tenebrae, arm-in-arm with Laris.

_Why did you forget him?_  
**_I'm not forgetting him. Now, he's just a friend to me. His yellow eyes will always remind me of him, my dark Prince._**

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_Yeah, to me Stella's kinda out there. She's too OOC in this story, but I tried my best for her to be in Character here. Laris was just a cheerful, happy-go-lucky go lucky guy in here. Yes, Noct. does have YELLOW EYES, and Blue eyes, and Red eyes so don't go complaining, alright?**

**New Nickname for Stella: Stel. *I just thought of a shorter name for her. Didn't want to put Stella. Too formal for me.*  
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**Please criticize, review, and flame to your heart's content! I will ignore the flames though. Helpful beta reviews are good too!  
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***Crack pairing* Stella and Shot-gun guy: I'm okay with them. A friend wanted me to write a story about them, so I did. **

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**Your Author,**

**~Yuki~  
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